Travel to Iran

Parent Cafe
1

I have gotten so many great travel tips on CC, and now I would like to share our experience.

Despite the gov’t saying ‘stay away from Iran’ we went for two weeks. Flew from London to Shiraz for four nights, then Isfahan for four nights and finally Tehran for four nights. Americans must go with an organized tour.

It was an absolute breeze going through border control both entering and leaving. We acquired a Visa through the Iranian section of the Pakistani Embassy. It can be done by mail or in person (take a head scarf).

Lots of history- Persepolis, mosques, palaces, bazaars, museums.

People were very friendly and said ‘welcome to Iran’ starting with the border control person. Kids shyly said hello and people asked to take pictures with you.

Exchanging money was easy. We did this in the hotel and they gave the going rate with no added fees. Amazing. Food and souvenirs are not expensive. We ate lots of kabobs!

Women have to dress modestly and wear a head scarf at all times. Men wear long pants.

The traffic in Tehran is crazy. No one pays any attention to traffic signals, some streets have no lane markings, motorcycles drive against the flow in on major roads and no one stops for pedestrians. We saw goats and nomads along the highway.

All in all a very interesting trip.

2

Thanks! Post more impressions. A European friend of mine is in the process of moving to Shiraz, a city she says is fairly open and accepting of non-Muslim women, outside the old quarter, that is, which is mostly what tourists see there.

3

Wow, sounds amazing. My boyfriend is Iranian, his parents having escaped the Revolution, and he’d really like to be able to visit. It seems like there’s been an increase in books and films about Iran recently, but that might be a frequency illusion since we started dating five years ago.

4

D’s BF is Iraqi. His family cannot return to Iraq, but they say it is not what it once was, anyway. This summer, they (including D) did all visit family who relocated to Lebanon, and D said it is beautiful (but terrible, terrible drivers!).